


old hearts but never worn

by cafedeluna (orphan_account)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Domestic, Implied Reincarnation, Inspired by The Old Guard (Movie), M/M, Reference to Patroclus and Achilles, Soulmates, soft boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-05 01:53:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,423
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25426459
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/cafedeluna
Summary: Doyoung and Taeyong? They’re basically Achilles and Patroclus who found each other again after many life times.
Relationships: Kim Dongyoung | Doyoung/Lee Taeyong
Comments: 6
Kudos: 55





	old hearts but never worn

**Author's Note:**

> Hello. This fic is inspired by the characters of Joe & Nicky of the movie, The Old Guards on Netflix, because those two’s love for each other deeply touched my heart and my mind immediately went back to Doyoung and Taeyong after one of their scenes. There are some lines in this fic that were taken from [this](https://twitter.com/doiescafe/status/1285605504119713796?s=21%20%E2%80%9Crel=). You do not need to watch the movie to understand this but I highly recommend it as a movie recommendation. I hope you enjoy it!

Everyone have always known how beautiful his soul is, how he is beautiful in every way, to every nooks and corners of his being. How he looks, how he presents and carries himself, how he always finds the right words to say to the people around him, how he is always dependable on every situation and on how he is always there for people that needs him and he cares for.

But there is always one soul that knows all of those more than others. A soul that have always stuck beside him, who have watched him from the beginning as he grows into the strong person that he is now and all throughout those years, mutual respect, trust and codependency bud between them.

It wasn’t a work of the red string of fate. They are more than all of those soulmate clichés combined, time isn’t simply responsible of their growth as two separate souls but of one heart.

Rather than the red string of fate, what binds them is a huge rope that Patroclus and Achilles have carried and that connects their hearts than not even deities could break through. It is heavy, it is rash on their skin, but together they carry it in sync until the huge bundles of material became their little nest, where only them exists and only them owns.

They are love beyond measure and reason. To each other, they are all and they are more.

Lee Taeyong and Kim Doyoung, the Fates have always looked down at them and blessed them even more because, _“They have finally found each other again.”_

* * *

The sound of an alarm echoes in the silence of Doyoung’s bedroom, from the small opening of the blinds, he could see that the skies still emits darkness. On top of him is his still open laptop, its screen pitch black from its inactivity after he have fallen asleep, his eyelids involuntarily drooping close as soon as the movie credits began rolling. Good thing that his body have stayed still throughout the past 3 hours— he glanced at his bedside clock— that he was asleep, or else it would have gone straight to the floor, breaking into a malfunctioning if he’s unlucky.

The black haired boy took care of that first, setting his laptop on a safe space but before he could even dive back under his sheets, his head snapped back to the digital clock on his side and sees the time, blinking at him in red: **_2:27 am_**. Something stirs in him, coming at first as a mild confusion before it settles as worry.

He focus all his newly renewed senses around him, not only in the silence of his room but also to the undisturbed atmosphere of their dorm. He could no longer hear the soft keyboard clicks coming from Johnny and Donghyuck’s room, everything is still. Which brings him back to the reason of his worry and before he could stop it, an exasperated sigh leaves his mouth and he throws his covers off of him to make his way across his room and out of it where is welcome by the darkness of their living room.

The thing is, no matter how tired he is, even after a rigid schedule and practices, his ears wouldn’t betray him and would always perk up when the keypad lock of their door would sound, followed by the beep that would come next when it has been opened and closed. But in the 3 hours that he have been asleep, not once did he hear it.

So to confirm his suspicion, he finds himself softly walking to the room where no one is probably occupying at that hour. Doyoung didn’t even dare knock, knowing that he’d be right anyways, and indeed he is, he opens the door to Taeyong’s room, turns on the light and found it empty. No sign of their leader, not even a hint that he came home from being holed up in the music studio, not even just to pick something up for himself.

As much as he admires their leader for being passionate, for being driven with such vigor that Doyoung admires, he can’t ignore the feeling that has been living in him for years, the one that urged him to the kitchen.

* * *

_He’s the moon when I’m lost in darkness_

_And warmth when I shiver in cold_

_And his kiss still thrills me,_

_Even after a millennia_

_His heart overflows,_

_With the kindness of which this world is not worthy of._

Taeyong’s melodic rap mixed with the soft beat that he have been tinkering on for the past hours fills the enclosed space of the studio, the pleasing sound of his voice flowing gently in the air before he halts it with a quick tap of the space key. His hands quickly worked back on the keyboard, ready to adjust the song again, without a mind of the time and also not of the incoming presence, stalking down the hall holding a bag of food.

Only when a faint jolt tickles the back of his neck did Taeyong’s body went rigid, he quickly grabbed his phone to check the time and even has a second to utter a curse under his breath before the door of the studio flies open. Revealing a Doyoung bundled in his gray hoodie, arms hugging protectively around the paper bag on his chest, leaving a startled Taeyong swirling around on his seat until he meets Doyoung’s eyes, pinning him still on his seat.

Words rushed in his brain, a jumble of apology, excuse and guilt that he made Doyoung walk to the studio in such an ungodly hour because of his own carelessness to himself. “Sorry,” Taeyong could only mutter, the words ‘ _I forgot’_ in the tip of his tongue, ready to spill but he stops himself, knowing that Doyoung have already heard it too many times from him. But Doyoung, patient as ever, simply closed the door behind him and makes his way to the small coffee table in one corner of the studio, where a couch is propped against wall, wordlessly.

The younger of the two moved swiftly but fast, discarding the plastic wares on the table and opening its lid— while a silent Taeyong watches from behind, observing Doyoung’s aura to figure out if he’s actually mad at the rapper. And when Taeyong reached the point of being unsure, he begins to speak, “Doie.”

“Are you a robot? Do you not need to eat?” Doyoung finally spoke, as he takes out the bottled waters he packed along with the food that he quickly whipped out from their kitchen before fast-walking to the company studio. “Sit down.”

And sit down, Taeyong did as he scrambles forward and sits on the couch beside Doyoung who handed him his chopsticks and he starts to dig in. “Thank you, Doyoung-ah. What would I do without you?” Taeyong tries to speak in a muffled voice, his mouth already munching on a piece of rolled egg.

“Starve, basically.” Doyoung answers him when he settles on the couch, burrowing himself further in his oversized hoodie, arms crossed and eyes trained on Taeyong beside him. The rapper on the other hand is immersed on eating, making a pleasing sound every time he munches on his food and every time he does so, warmth spreads in Doyoung’s chest. The coldness that have seeped into his clothes when he was walking outside immediately vanishing at the sight on his side. Nothing warms him more than knowing that the boy beside him is well taken care of and satiated. Doyoung continues to stare, a fond smile paints his visage faintly.

“What? You have a weird look on you, it looks like you’d eat me alive.” Taeyong’s voice snaps him out of his reverie, the fondness taken over by scoff. “The only weird here is the way you thank me for keeping you alive.” Doyoung fires back.

Taeyong only gave the younger boy a mischievous smile at that before he resumed to devouring his food that is already half-way from being finished. Doyoung took that time to divert his attention to the huge computer monitor a few feet away from them, he sees the software open on the screen, already filled with the graphics of soundwaves that could only mean that Taeyong is almost finished with a song.

“How long have you been working on it?” He asks, eyes still trained on the monitor. Taeyong didn’t even have to look up to know what Doyoung means by that, he took a gulp of water before answering. “Since the time you sent your last text about not forgetting to eat.”

“And yet you still forgot to eat.” Doyoung rolls his eyes.

“Well, you can’t blame me, I was writing a song about—“ _you,_ he could’ve said but he stopped, he bites down on his lower lip to stop himself from spilling the last word and instead focuses on cleaning the coffee table, closing the lids of the plastic containers and grabbing a bunch of tissues to wipe the table clean.

“About what?” Doyoung turns to the rapper, already rising to his feet in a taunting manner that Taeyong immediately recognized in a split second. So before Doyoung could exercise his plan, Taeyong literally skips over the coffee table and jumps in front of the computer monitor, arms spread out to prevent any trespasser.

“Oh? So now you refuse to let me hear your songs?”

“Ah, it’s not like that!” Taeyong exclaims, but Doyoung shakes his head at him, a dramatic agenda already forming in his head as he puts a palm on his forehead. “Waah, what’s next, you won’t even let me sing your songs anymore? Waah, Lee Taeyong, you—“

Taeyong rolls his eyes at the raven haired boy, he turns around and quickly clicks on the mouse to save any changes he have made before Doyoung came. “You’re overreacting again, you fool.” He says and looks around to pull out an extra chair, pulling it close to his before he sits down. “Sit down. I’ll be done in a few then we can go back together.”

Doyoung hums, “Okay. Home?”

“Yes, home.”

Soulmates are not just two souls fated to each other, not only the perfect puzzle piece to one another, not only what completes you. Soulmates is deeper than shared interests and making your differences grounded on love, understanding and acceptance.

They do not only find a home in each other.

They build a home together.

They find it in every gesture, every meal, every worried glances and the gentle touches.

Like how Doyoung finds it in how Taeyong trusts him.

And how Taeyong feels it when Doyoung’s hand is hovering over his elbow, a silent assurance of someone he can always fall back to.

But at that moment, Taeyong sees it closely, he drinks it in silence and stillness. Doyoung’s form hunched over the surface of the computer desk with his cheek squished against his forearm, lips slightly parted, and his black fringes almost covering his eyes. Taeyong takes that moment for himself, to study the man who have been there as a steady course for him when his mind diverts him elsewhere, when he needed a stable pillar to lean on. Somehow, when he looks back, no matter the situation, Doyoung always meets him with an encouraging nod.

The younger always finding him, finding them. Not only as the duo that they are but their team included, the haven that they have created for themselves extending to a territory that both of them could no longer be weary of.

Doyoung shifts, his cheek snuggling closely against the fabric of his own hoodie, while his other hand that is not used as his makeshift pillow flexes involuntarily. It just so happens that what he’s holding on to, is Taeyong’s hand that has also been mouse free.

Yes, Taeyong has been working with only a hand, multi-tasking between clicking on the mouse and typing on the keyboard. It made the process slow, what could have been done in 15 minutes turned into 30 minutes and the last thing he knew, a nagging Doyoung turned silent as slumber takes a hold of him, with their hands entwined. Not that Taeyong is complaining.

Instead, he lightly grips it, feeling the warmth of both of their palms and letting it go straight to his chest, where he could keep it with all of their thousand wishes and heart beats.

“Are you enjoying this that much while I just badly want to be in bed?” Came Doyoung’s soft and gentle voice, the one that never fails to touch everyone’s heart including his, the voice that is the muse of most of his songs. The blueprint.

“What do you mean?” Taeyong deadpans, looking back at their linked hands and turning it around to see both sides, admiring the way how it simply looks magnificent with the monitor light shining on it. Or perhaps, he’s just being sappy yet again.

It would have been a good timing to shift the atmosphere and tease Taeyong about the fond glint in his eyes when he was admiring at their entwined hands, it wasn’t exactly that long when Doyoung caught him but those eyes never fails to tug the strings in Doyoung’s heart. So he lets it go in favor of bringing Taeyong’s hand to his lips, placing a soft peck on top of it. “Let’s go home? My back hurts.”

“Yeah, let me just turn everything off.”

“So you’re really not going to let me hear what you were working on?”

Taeyong stops, he pulls his hand away from Doyoung’s hold but only to let his fingers hover by Doyoung’s bangs, slightly ruffling it to its places. “You will hear it, Kim Doyoung. My songs have always been yours too, it’s ours.”

In this life, they could share millions and billions of heartbeats and Taeyong would keep it all in, even until their next, when they find each other again.

In the old days, they sing songs of the bond between Patroclus and Achilles. Now, it is the both of them who writes their own song and sings it together, on the same stage.

Their song is no longer sang around the light of the fire but now it is the light that surrounds them when they sing it.

Their hearts may have been old, but it will never stop beating for the same person, for each other.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading this short fic that I just wanted to get out of my system because Joe & Nicky reminds me of Doyoung & Taeyong in some way. A bond that has been shaped so deeply that not a single word can simply label it as such.  
> Anyways, the Patroclus & Achilles reference is from [here](https://twitter.com/doiescafe/status/1285607158852329474?s=21), basically still connected to the characters of Joe & Nicky that the movie writer took an inspiration from. 
> 
> [twt](http://twitter.com/doiescafe) / [cc](http://curiouscat.me/doietaes)


End file.
